Shadows
by Shesh
Summary: One young apprentice strives to achieve her goal of becoming a warrior; but soon her destiny becomes much more than that. With a new omen to fufill, four young cats follow in the footsteps of their ancestors, each coming from a diffrent life and clan to join together and defeat a new force of evil that reins the forest.


THUNDERCLAN

LEADER; 

**EchoStar **

Medium sized black she-cat with green eyes.

DEPUTY: 

**Icestorm**

Large, muscular Silver tom-cat with darker grey stripes and blue eyes

MEDICINE CAT: 

**Rosedawn**

Medium sized Cream she-cat with ginger splotches and pretty gold eyes.

MEDICINE CAT APPRENTICE:

**Redpaw**

Small, Reddish-brown tom with green eyes and black tail-tip and paws.

SENIOR WARRIORS;

**Berrylight**

Medium sized black tom with white paws, nose, tail-tip and chest with soft but strong honey-brown eyes

Apprentice: Hawkpaw

**Eaglewing**

Large Brown and white tom with silver stripes down his back and blue eyes

Apprentice: Maplepaw

**Silentforest**

A small she-cat with chocolate brown fur and dark hazel brown eyes

Apprentice: Bramblepaw

**Sundance**

A bright ginger she-cat with dark forest green eyes and ears tipped with cream fur.

Apprentice: Amberpaw

WARRIORS:

**Silverflame**

Silver tom with a marbled pelt and brown eyes

Apprentice: Riverpaw

**Ivyheart**

White and silver she-cat with blue eyes and brown dappled marks on her pelt.

Apprentice: Owlpaw

Family: Silverclaw: Sister

**Rainmask**

Blue-grey tom with sleek fur and dark grey eyes

Apprentice: Windpaw

**Lightpelt**

Soft brown tom cat with a long sweeping tail and a light, pearly silver eye-colour.

Apprentice: X

Blazekit (Gold tom with amber eyes) Shadowkit (Black tom with brown eyes) Snowkit (White she-cat with blue eyes) Silverclaw (Mate)

**Fallensun**

A pure black she-cat with blazing gold eyes and a particular dark past.

Apprentice: Kestrelpaw

APPRENTICES:

**Riverpaw (Stone)**

Small silver tom with black stripes and blue-grey eyes

Mentor: Silverflame

**Bramblepaw (Fur)**

Brown dappled tom with darker brown eyes

Mentor: Silentforest

**Mosspaw (Heart)**

Brown and gold tabby with dark chocolate brown eyes. Tom.

Mentor: Silverclaw

**Maplepaw (tail)**

Brown furred tom with green eyes

Mentor: Eaglewing

**Windpaw (claw)**

Cream she-cat with brown tail and eyes.

Mentor: Rainmask

**Hawkpaw (Pelt)**

Brown and cream tom with brown eyes.

Mentor: Berrylight

**Amberpaw (stripe)**

Ginger and cream she-cat with gold eyes

Mentor: Sundance

**Kestrelpaw (Breeze)**

Cream she-cat with long fur and Silver patches on her tail, paw, ears, head, face and chest. Soft blue eyes.

Mentor: Fallensun

Family: Brother (Owlpaw)

**Owlpaw (Flight)**

Fluffy tom with cream and brown fur, a long bushy tail and brown eyes.

Mentor: Ivyheart

Family: Sister (Kestrelpaw)

QUEENS AND KITS:

**Silverclaw**

Black she-cat with unusual silver claws and strong blue eyes.

Apprentice: X

Family: Blazekit (Gold tom with amber eyes) Shadowkit (Black tom with brown eyes) Snowkit (White she-cat with blue eyes) Lightpelt (Mate) Ivyheart (Sister)

**Blazekit**

Gold tom with amber eyes

Family: Shadowkit (Black tom with brown eyes) Snowkit (White she-cat with blue eyes) Silverclaw (Mother) Lightpelt (Dad)

**Shadowkit**

Black tom with brown eyes

Family: Snowkit (White she-cat with blue eyes) Blazekit (Gold tom with amber eyes) Silverclaw (Mother) Lightpelt (Dad)

**Snowkit**

White she-cat with blue eyes

Family: Blazekit (Gold tom with amber eyes) Shadowkit (Black tom with brown eyes) Silverclaw (Mother) Lightpelt (Dad)

ELDERS:

**Bouldertail**

Large brown tom with a bob tail and tufted ears and cheek-fur, brown eyes.

Silence. Kestrelpaw flicked her tail slowly, gesturing for her brother to stand beside her. Owlpaw joined her and their pelts rubbed together as they stood side by side, staring through the thicket towards the clearing.

"I can't see it." Owlpaw complained, looking over Kestrelpaw's shoulder expectantly. "You're in the way! Move!"

"Quiet!" Kestrelpaw snapped as the mouse scuttled away, its soft grey fur disappearing into the undergrowth. "Now look! I could have caught that!" She growled, jumping out into the clearing and swishing her tail determinedly. Owlpaw raced out to join her, fluffing out her soft cream and brown fur grumpily. "No you couldn't. It was too fast for a slowcoach like you!" The two young apprentices rolled in the dirt, pawing each other playfully, tangling their fur with mud and moss.

"Owlpaw, Kestrelpaw! Pay attention! How do you expect to come within a meter of any prey when you act like spoiled kits?" Kestrelpaw's mentor, Fallensun, approached the two apprentices, an angry yet distracted look on her dark face. Kestrelpaw and Owlpaw bowed their heads, knowing not to argue with the strong warrior. Fallensun circled them, looking them up and down. "Owlpaw, never distract another cat when hunting. This isn't a game anymore. The clan needs food, and the elders, queens, kits and injured cats rely on us to provide them food. If you every want to become a warrior, you need to keep this in mind. Your clan come first. Before family. Before friends. Before your own life." Eventually she halts in front of them, and sits facing the two apprentices. "That goes for you, too, Kestrelpaw. Sit down, both of you." The apprentices did as Fallensun ordered them, sitting strait before her and holding their heads high in the expected manner. "Good, thank you. Now, im about to teach you some valuable tricks, so listen up." _Wow._ Kestrelpaw thought, _she's being surprisingly helpful today. Yesterday she wouldn't even come out of the Warriors den.. I'm kind of surprised Echostar picked her to be a mentor… _She thought back to the day long ago when she became an apprentice... Wondering who would be her mentor and what it would be like to help the clan survive, if only a small amount to start with. She had been slightly disappointed when she Fallensun had been announced as her mentor, but gradually she had got used to the grumpy, harsh, unpredictable yet mysterious she-cat that she relied on to teach her all she needs to know to become a warrior. "Now, follow me." She continued, standing and leading the way into the undergrowth in a different direction to before. Owlpaw followed her, motioning with his tail for Kestrelpaw to bring up the rear.

_I wonder if Owlpaw likes my mentor. _Kestrelpaw mused. _It was certainly kind of her to look after him for the day whilst Ivyheart spent the day with her sister, Silverclaw and her kits. _"Listen carefully, you two. You must be completely silent when hunting. No noise should be made _at all_, if you can help it. Stay down wind of your prey, so that it cannot smell your scent; even a bird will notice. Creep towards the prey as close as you dare before trying to catch it; don't go too close, however, or it will sense you are there and escape before you've even prepared to leap or swipe a paw. Stay too far away, however, and you will make the killing move too soon and if you miss you will have no chance of catching any prey. Got it?" She waited for both of us to nod before questing forwards again and halting on the fringes of a jade-coloured glade. In the centre, a group of rabbits with bracken brown pelts crouched, nibbling grass whilst glancing nervously around. Lowering her voice so that Kestrelpaw and Owlpaw can barley hear her, Fallensun whispers, "Watch. First single out your choice. Don't think about anything to hard to get; the ones near the middle, for example, would be a foolish choice, as when I approach they would scatter and, even though it is a short distance from the nearest rabbit, trying to get a certain one could cost the clan fresh kill." Nodding to the nearest, she adds, "Injured, young or old prey would be easier to catch, therefore go for one of them if you can. That one, there," She motions again with a flick of her long black tail, "Is injured slightly in its right leg. That could work to our advantage if we approach from the left, which is fortunately downwind of the rabbits. Watch me, and be silent. On noise from either of you and I'll send you to Rosedawn; im sure she and Redpaw would appreciate some help checking the elders for fleas." That sealed the deal, and immediately Fallensun snuck to the right, upwind of the small group of rabbits. Glancing over at the two, Fallensun blinked slowly, before turning back to the rabbits. Singling the one she had chosen out, she snuck towards it, tail down low and twisting for balance. Using the thick ferns and nettles as cover, she crept along with her dark black fur rubbing against the earth as she went. Kestrelpaw almost let out a gasp of surprise as she realised how close Fallensun had got to the rabbits, and felt her own claws unsheathe at the same time as her mentors. Leaping through the air, Fallensun landed strait on the startled rabbits back, and with one swipe she snapped its neck, without damaging its outer coat; it lay almost untouched without a single mark, its neck at a strange angle where it had snapped. After brief hesitation, Kestrelpaw and Owlpaw received a nod from Fallensun, and the two raced swiftly out of their hideout, standing beside the warrior and her prey. "Great catch!" Owlpaw purred, sitting in front of the mentor and cleaning himself slowly, waiting for his next orders. "That was awesome!" Kestrelpaw agreed, settling beside him. Fallensun cast them a grumpy glance, growling, "What are you doing? We're _meant _to be hunting." Owlpaw immediately stopped grooming himself and stood strait, his long, sweeping tail sticking out strait behind him. Kestrelpaw followed suit, and Fallensun nodded her approval. "Good. Owlpaw, do you care to go first?" The young Thunderclan apprentice nodded eagerly, and Fallensun continued, "Ok. Find some prey; follow its scent and locate its current position. If you think you could catch it, go for it. Remember what I've taught you so far. Don't just go diving towards it; prepare yourself, get as close as you dare. Got it?" Nodding, Owlpaw set off, walking slowly and precisely as he searched for a scent trail. Kestrelpaw and Fallensun followed a small distance behind, not wanting to disturb the indomitable apprentice. _I can't wait until I get to hunt!_ Kestrelpaw thinks as she walks, careful to make no noise with each pawfall. Turning her attention to her brother, she noticed Owlpaw had adopted a hunting crouch, and was staring with a sharp, determined look in his eyes into a small thicket ahead of him. A vole sat, its back turned to the three cats, nibbling seeds from the grass. Several more voles were nearby, all of them facing away from Owlpaw. Inching to the left, Kestrelpaw's brother got into a position where he was downwind of his prey and glanced over his shoulder at us. Kestrelpaw nodded brightly in encouragement, But Fallensun shook her head, nodding to a different vole, one that he wasn't targeting. Owlpaw smiled back his affirmative. Edging closer, he rocked from side to side slightly, preparing to leap. Waving his tail for balance, he shifted his paw slightly. The crack of a small twig under paw split the air; although it wasn't loud, in the silence it seemed like a rock fall. The voles scatted, and Owlpaw jumped from his hiding place, a distraught look on his face. Lashing out a hooked paw, he grasped a vole, pinning it gown and clawing it franticly. The other small animals had already escaped, scuttling down their hole. Owlpaw turned with the vole in his moth, looking with bright eyes at the two of us. He was older than Kestrelpaw, quite a bit, and this wasn't his first catch. He wasn't from the same litter as his sister, but was still her sibling, and he had been an apprentice a few moons before Kestrelpaw. He would soon become a warrior, once he had calmed down. Fallensun grunted her approval, purring, "You weren't concentrating. The balancing was good, but not for an area where trees are as branches and twigs are plentiful beneath the canopies this time of year. You did well to catch that, and I could figure out which you were heading for, which is good as when hunting in partners you cant talk in fear of scaring the prey and, with kill like mice, voles and other small rodents its best if you target separate prey. You did well, though, but more is expected of you." His glance shone with hurt for a second, before he stuck his head in the air and gave a prompt nod, accepting her verdict and promising to try harder. Fallensun turned to Kestrelpaw, and she felt a quiver of excitement touch her spine. "Are you ready to catch your first prey?" Fallensun asked. Determination sparked in her crystal blue eyes, and she took a step forward, nodding sharply. Kestrelpaw set off in search of her first prey, taking the first step towards her destiny.


End file.
